Man jailed for sexual assault

Gregory William Lunn sentenced to six months in jail

A Stratford man who started to have intercourse with a woman while she was asleep was sentenced Monday to six months in jail.

Gregory William Lunn, 32, appeared before Justice Terri MacPherson in P.E.I. Supreme Court in Charlottetown where he was scheduled for a two-day trial on a charge of break and enter and commit a sexual assault.

Instead, the trial didn’t go ahead after Lunn pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

With the guilty plea, Crown attorney Gerald Quinn read an agreed statement of facts, saying Lunn climbed in with the victim while she was asleep.

Lunn then started to have intercourse with the victim, Quinn said.

The court heard that the victim told Lunn to stop and he did.

In his submissions, Quinn said the courts have been clear an unconscious person can’t consent.

“A sleeping person is unconscious,” he said.

The Crown and defence made a joint recommendation of six months in jail consecutive to any time Lunn is already serving. Lunn was sentenced in June 2017 to two years less a day in jail for dangerous driving causing death after the truck he was driving at double the speed limit hit the back of a Honda Civic.

Phyllis Hamill died on Oct. 8, 2015, as a result of the collision. The court heard Lunn’s statutory release date for that offence is Feb. 22, which is when the sixmonth sentence will start. Lunn was on parole when he committed the sexual assault and he turned himself in to police in August 2018.

His parole was revoked. Quinn said he had discussions with the victim about the sentencing and she was in agreement that it was the proper approach.

The sentence is low for the offence, Quinn said, but he added that the recommended period of probation for three years balanced what would have otherwise been a higher penalty. Quinn said the sentence guarantees to the victim that Lunn will answer for what he did to her.

Lunn will be on probation for three years after his release, during which time he is banned from contacting the victim.

He will also be under a weapons prohibition, his name will be added to the sex offender registry and he must provide a DNA sample for the national databank.

A publication ban prevents the release of any details that could identify the victim.